Rolls and Tubes: A History of Photography

photography monograph for the Rolls and Tunes Collective (Christy McDonald, Colleen Mullins, Jenny Sampson, and Nicole White)

On a Roll: Unspooling the History of Photography, essay by Corey Keller

From the essay by Corey Keller:
Commonplace and scarce, virginally blank and ultimately scatological, toilet paper embraces a surprising range of contradictions. The absurdity of the symbolic freight heaped upon it during the pandemic also made it the perfect material for an artistic project responding to the physical, social, and psychological constraints of the shelter-in-place. The four photographers who make up the collective Rolls and Tubes—Christy McDonald, Colleen Mullins, Jenny Sampson, and Nicole White—originally came together as a critique group in early 2020. Friends and colleagues, the group had only come together one time in person before the pandemic put an end to what were supposed to be monthly meetings. They pivoted to virtual meetings but struggled to produce work that felt meaningful under the circumstances. To dislodge this creative block, one member proposed a quick and dirty challenge: in two hours, re-create any photograph from the arc of the history of photography using toilet paper. The rule-bound prompt—laced with an irresistible amalgam of serious and silly—provided a sense of levity, direction, and time-bound urgency in a moment when all were in short supply. Yet what began as a lighthearted exercise evolved into a sustaining creative partnership: a year-long collaborative inquiry into the history of the medium.

51 loose cards with a 4-panel accordion fold housed in a box
5.125 x 7 inches